The Toyota Prius, the world's most popular hybrid, will have solar panels on the roof of its new high-end models to help power the air conditioning, according to a Japanese report.

The Kyocera solar cells would make Toyota the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported.

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Kids on Earth (www.kidsonearth.org) is an ongoing, worldwide art project with a mission to inspire kids to raise awareness about global warming and the environment through their creativity.We are asking for writing and art submissions from kids between the ages of 5 and 12. Basically, we want you to show or tell us what's most important about your world. This could be a drawing of the earth itself, or a picture of letter about something or someone who means the world to you. Remember, creativity makes the world go around!

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While Ausra CEO Robert Fishman was far from excited yesterday about the BLM solar moratorium policy, he was perfectly happy to tout his company’s new 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. “This is a crossover point for this industry. Ausra’s factory is accelerating Nevada’s and America’s solar future by tripling worldwide manufacturing capacity, relieving the supply constraint that has slowed the industry, and continuing to drive down costs,” Fishman said in Ausra’s press release.

The factory will be the Palo Alto-based companies first North American manufacturing and distribution centers and will supply reflectors, absorber tubes and other components for the company’s solar thermal power plants. At full capacity, the facility will produce more than 700 MW of solar collectors annually.

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London-based research and design company SolarLab is developing a solar-powered rickshaw. The vehicle, which is due to be launched next year, will derive up to 75% of its power from photovoltaics mounted on its roof, and the rest from pedal power.

"As a London-based company, we understand the tangible effects of pollution and congestion in our city. Our solar rickshaw will offer a radical transport solution for tourists and residents of any major metropolis. More importantly, our design is modular enabling easy conversion to load-bearing vehicles for inner city logistics and supply-chain requirements."

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The Home Depot has expanded the recycling program for compact fluorescent light bulbs begun last November in its Canadian stores to in 1900-odd stores in the United States. Customers can bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulb the store’s returns desk. “The bulbs will then be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.”

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Japan Airlines will join Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa, and Virgin Atlantic on the list of airlines investigating biofuels in an attempt to improve their environmental image and hopefully reduce costs.

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"We’ve already alerted readers to the awesome new features available on Google Earth’s Outreach back in April. Now, check out this new Google Earth KML file by David Tryse (download here), which visually represents the rates of deforestation across the world using polygons. A live hectare ticker and pop-up profiles are also included for placemarked countries. With the other new features of Google Earth Outreach covering everything from dams to endangered species to the South China Sea project, what could be next?"

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Presented annually in Los Angeles, the Millennium Awards recognize and herald those whose lives and livelihood embody Global Green USA's mission of fostering a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure world. Recipients included: A. Unified School District – California Environmental Leadership Award, Lyn Davis Lear – Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award,
Van Jones, Esq. – Community Environmental Leadership Award, Mark Edlen and Homer Williams, The South Group (Gerding Edlen/Williams & Dame Development) – Corporate Environmental Leadership Award.

CLICK HERE to view recipient details

Deutsche Bank is sponsoring two screenings of The 11th Hour this week in Japan. The Tree Media Group team departed from LA to Tokyo yesterday and will travel around the country to screen the film. Included in the team is Leila Conners (Writer/Director/Producer of The 11th Hour), Stephan McGuire (Associate Producer of The 11th Hour), Richard Dent (Co-Director of The 11th Hour Action Campaign), and Holli Fajack (Tree Media Office Manager).

WELLINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it planned to use biofuels for 10 percent of its fuel consumption within the next five years amid rising jet fuel prices and a global drive to cut carbon emissions.

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